Welcome! This site will help students and parents learn more about the BEST BOOKS CHALLENGE 2020-2021, sponsored by the Granite School District Elementary Libraries. It is an extra-curricular program, but all students are welcome to participate!
This is also the place for librarians, teachers, reading specialists, and other school personnel to find answers to questions and access to sign-up sheets, materials, forms, and other information and resources you may need.
Click HERE for more information about the books on the 3rd-4th grade reading list.
Click HERE for more information about the books on the 5th-6th grade reading list.
FOR PARTICIPANTS
FOR SCHOOLS
Schools wishing to participate should participate in an online informational meeting on Thursday, May 21 at 10:00 am. All elementary librarians will receive instructions and the link to this meeting via email. If you are a school specialist, teacher, or administrator who would like to join us, please see your librarian. All schools who join the program must have a representative participate in this meeting.
To participate in the program for 2020-2021, schools must sign up by June 30, 2020 to participate in this year's program (sign up HERE*).
All participating schools will prepare their own starter kits this year (15 buttons for each book). Three button-making machines will be available, so three or four people is the ideal group size. After you sign up for the program, Trinda Burdett will contact you about signing up for a time. You will also receive your promotional materials at that time.
*forms may require that you are signed into your GraniteSD (Google) account for permission to access. You do NOT need to get permission. If you see the message that you do, SIGN IN, reload the page, and try againPURPOSE: Best Books rewards readers and asks them to consider books from a variety of times, genres, authors, reading levels, and purposes. Books are selected carefully to represent high-quality writing and a wide-range of character identity and perspective. The shared experience of a group of people reading the same book at one time also helps encourage discussion of literature, especially characters and themes.
GOALS:
Writer Andrea Davis Pinkney said "Kids read for the same reasons that adults read. They want to have fun, laugh, have adventures, escape, meet new characters, and learn more about the world . . . my focus is to inspire joy, power, and the love of reading." The focus in program is to do the same.
Students will know their school library and librarian.
Students will make choices about their reading; even with a list to follow, there are many options which empowers them to read as they choose (a great motivator for encouraging readers).
Students learn empathy and compassion by reading about people with different lives; they build understanding and confidence from reading about people who are like them.
Everyone stays more current with contemporary children's literature
Traditional, time-honored standards aren't lost on the shelves.
Students have a community of readers--a shared experience and direct interaction as they read together (another motivator for reading for fun).
